Premium alkaline water brand ZenWTR has received a Plastic Negative Brand Certification from environmental nonprofit Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX), the company announced today, making it the first beverage producer to achieve the classification.
Founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneur Lance Collins, ZenWTR produces a line of bottled waters made entirely from ocean-bound recycled plastic, with an emphasis on removing at least 200% of its annual plastic footprint from the environment. The Molson Coors-backed brand has rapidly expanded its presence nationwide, with placement in nearly 50,000 retail stores including Whole Foods Market, Kroger, Albertsons, Target, Sprouts, Kwik Trip, Wawa and 7-Eleven.
Based in the Philippines, PCX aims to offset plastic pollution by partnering with companies to help finance and support cleanup programs around the world. In addition to its certification program, participants can purchase credits from PCX which are logged on a public blockchain ledger and then put towards recycling efforts. The group’s Plastic Negative Brand Certification is awarded to companies that pass a third-party audit and pledge to remove two times their verified plastic footprint.
PCX developed its technology platform in partnership with Microsoft and uses Ernst & Young and PwC as auditors. The group’s website also cites the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a development partner and 1% for the Planet as an advocacy partner. While the group has only operated in the U.S. for a limited time, other American brands to achieve the Plastic Negative certification include beauty brand Herb + Flora, Peanut Butter & Co. and Touchland Hand Sanitizer
As part of the partnership, ZenWTR will support global recycling programs in target areas most affected by plastic pollution, including the Aling Tindera collections program in the Philippines, which incentivized female business owners to turn their stores into collection points for plastic waste, which are then sold to local recycling plants.
Speaking with BevNET, ZenWTR CMO Eric Berniker said he hopes the certification will not only aid the brand’s sales as it educates consumers on the company’s sustainability efforts, but also provide a new goal for other beverage manufacturers to meet.
“With our continued commitment to leave the world better than we found it, we wanted to kind of push the envelope, and now we’re the first beverage in the world to be certified Plastic Negative by the Plastic Credit Exchange,” Berniker said. “Now more than ever it’s more important that we’re taking action, not only for ourselves, but also for other people in the industry, our competitors, who have yet to commit to addressing their plastic footprints.”
A report by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health last year found that bottled water’s impact on the environment is 1,400 to 3,500 times higher than tap water and, according to Harvard University, roughly 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce plastic water bottles to meet annual demand in the U.S. market.
Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly looking for more sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic bottled water. A report by Trivium Packaging found 67% of all polled consumers said they considered recyclable packaging an important quality in the products they purchase, while 83% of consumers under 44 said they would pay a premium for more sustainable products. This trend has also led to an influx of more environmentally friendly water brands, including canned options like Liquid Death and reusable aluminum bottle products like PATH and Proud Source Water.
Berniker said that in recent years, new plastic bottle production actually increased as low oil prices caused by the pandemic drove the cost of virgin plastic down.
“For us as a brand, it’s part and parcel to everything we do – we use ocean-bound plastic, period,” he said. “And this is what consumers want, right? For younger generations, millennials, Gen Z, you name it, sustainability is a huge piece of what they want. So if you’re not doing it for the right reason, do it because you want your brand to succeed.”
This year, the brand also aims to further tap its roster of celebrity investors to help grow awareness, with the new Plastic Negative certification set to be a strong point moving forward. Last year, ZenWTR unveiled a number of high profile names attached to the company, including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Zoe Saldana, Lil Jon, 2 Chainz, Paris Hilton and Khloe Kardashian, among others. Berniker noted that the roster has expanded to also include names like Ellen DeGeneres, Jared Leto and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“People get excited by this because it is an incredible product, and it’s got this incredible mission,” Berniker said. “The inbounds we get on our social media from people who want to get involved with the brand because of all those things [is large] and so it’s a pretty easy marketing job when you have a great product, great mission and an incredible team that has been around [the beverage industry] before.”